AUGUSTA, Ga. – A year ago, Gerry and Rosie McIlroy were 4,000 miles away, at home in Northern Ireland, when their only child won his first Masters title and career Grand Slam. This time, Gerry and Rosie weren’t going to lose again – but they were cutting it close. On a warm, still Sunday evening, as Rory was putting the finishing touches to what would be a one-shot victory over the world no. Scottie SchefflerThe McIlroys pulled a golf cart in front of Augusta National’s clubhouse.
With Rory Holders and Augusta National Member and Golf General Jimmy Dunne in retreat, Gerry and Rosie entered the building, passed through a narrow lobby lined with renditions of past Masters champions — their son among them — and emerged through a back door onto the lawn just past the 18th green, which by this point was lined with patrons 20 or 30 rows deep. Gerry was wearing black wingtips, dark pants and a polo shirt emblazoned with the logo of the Seminole Golf Club, the exclusive South Florida lodge to which he belongs; Rosie was in a colorful, flowy white caprice top. Their son was about to be in his second green jacket.
Knowing that the moment of victory was imminent, Dunne suggested that the McIlroys might be better off staying in the clubhouse and watching the television broadcast in the drawing room. The group wheeled in, filed in and gathered around a small computer monitor that was streaming the Masters.com feed. Rory, after a fair putt on 18, was sizing up his options from the pines to the right of the fairway. He had a two-shot lead and was still very much in control of his own destiny, but still … it couldn’t have been easy for his parents to see.
And they didn’t – not for long, anyway, because just a few minutes later, Gerry and Rosie were on the move again. Someone on Rory’s team had recommended they start walking down to the area behind the 18th green, where friends and family gather to greet the winner. The McIlroys exited the clubhouse for the second time, navigated the masses seeking a glimpse of the action and positioned themselves for a hug that had been a lifetime in the making.
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The many sacrifices Gerry and Rosie made for their son are well chronicled. While young Rory was taking the game to Holywood Golf Clubin an east Belfast suburb, Gerri worked two jobs, as a dressing room attendant and barmaid, while Rosie worked nights in a 3M factory. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary to support their son’s burgeoning obsession: the lessons, the trips to competitions near and far, the bright green practices in the backyard behind their simple brick home. It was necessary for Rory to be Rory. “I’ll never be able to repay mum and dad for what they did,” Rory once said.
However, he has tried. Earlier this year, Rory took Gerry, a fine player in his own right, for a father-son dream revolve around Augusta Nationalwhich marked Gerry’s first visit to Augusta since Rory won there last April. They stopped at the par-5 15th from where Rory, in the fourth round of the 2025 Masters, hit a sublime 7-iron; Rory threw a ball and delivered another charm. On the Sunday before this year’s Masters, Rory invited his father to play another round at Augusta – this time with Dunne and another Augusta member, entrepreneur Michael Walrath. Vipers were high. They were about to rise much higher.
When McIlroy made his winning bogey on the 18th green Sunday evening, the scene lacked some of the electricity of a year ago, but still had the feel. After McIlroy hugged his caddy, Harry Diamond, and exchanged pleasantries with his playing partner, Cameron Young, he headed for the ropeway behind the green where his family awaited him. The first squeeze went to his 5-year-old daughter, Poppy, who ducked under the rope. Next came a kiss and a hug for wife Erica, who was hiding under a sun hat. Gerry and Rosie were next. Rory pulled them close – Rosie under his left arm and Gerry under his right.
“Good of you to come!” – said the son beaming. “Good of you to come!”
Rory’s Tour friends were happy to see Rory’s parents too. As Rory waited for his card at the scoreboard inside the club, a throng of well-wishers gathered outside. Among them was Shane Lowry, who found Gerry and hugged him. So did Tommy Fleetwood. Not that there was much time to waste: the Green Jacket Ceremony beckoned. While Team McIlroy made the procession to the green where the chairman of Augusta National Fred Ridley would slip Rory’s coat, Erica and Poppy led the charge. Gerry, who was in the parade behind them, laughed and said, “She’s experienced at this. She knows which way to go.”
From left, at the green jacket ceremony: Harry Diamond; Gerry and Rosie McIlroy; Poppy and Erica McIlroy
getty images
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As proceedings began, the setting sun cast a magnificent glow over Augusta National. Rory thanked the club and staff and his “biggest supporters” in Erica and Poppy. Then he called “Mom and Dad.”
“They weren’t here last year to celebrate with us last year, and surprisingly I had to convince them to come this year because they thought the reason I won was because they weren’t here. So I’m glad we proved them wrong.”
The crowd laughed.
“Mom and Dad,” Rory continued, looking at his parents, “I owe you everything. You’re, um…”
Rory’s voice cracked. The crowd applauded. Rory wiped the tears from her eyes.
“You are the most wonderful parents,” he said. “And if I can be half the parent to Poppy that you were to me, then I know I’ve done a good job. Thank you.”
Later, when he met the press, Rory said that whenever he found himself thinking about his parents during the round, he suppressed those thoughts. “I was like, ‘No, not yet, not yet,'” he said, adding, “It’s great to have them here. I’m excited to celebrate with them tonight.”
Gerry and Rosie were well ahead of him, in the Eisenhower cabin, which is adjacent to the practice green, where their son had been presented with the green jacket. As day melted into night, Rory’s parents exited the cabin and began walking to their next destination. The object in Gerry’s left hand indicated that the party was underway: a half-finished glass of beer.
;)
